I have been many things. Older sister, teacher of sign language, college student, math major, girlfriend…

…But I think insanity is the next thing on the list.

The last time I remember things being sane and normal was Sunday, last year. I was visiting my parent' house over summer vacation, and glad to be away from campus. I was in the last semester of college, and more than a little glad for the break.

I was spending that time with my little sis, Angela. The two of us were playing basketball in the driveway. Angela made a shot, but it bounced off the basket, which I failed to catch, and so the ball rolled into the street.

Angela is fast, and was the first one of us to go after it, but unfortunately, she is also deaf, and didn't hear the truck coming.

I'm often blamed for not thinking, and this was a perfect example of why. I ran out into the street after Angela, and tried to push her out of the way of the incoming vehicle.

You know how people say your life flashes before your eyes right before you die? It didn't. I guess I'm too single minded. I was completely focused on getting Angela out of the way, and then I was hit, and everything just turned black, and faded out.

And then the insanity began.

I woke up in blackness. Not darkness, literal blackness. No light, not even a hint of it. Like when you close your eyes in a dark room at midnight, on a new moon. That dark. I could sometimes hear voices, but I missed what they were saying, like they were a huge distance away, or I was just going deaf.

And then the next thing I remember was waking up again, but this time I wasn't in darkness, I was on an old cobblestone street. Stone buildings rose up around me, and dirt and garbage littered the alley I was sitting in.

It was night, but either early night, or very late, because I could see myself in more than just a vague shadow. I was still wearing the same clothes as when I'd been hit by the truck: jeans and a white tee shirt. Well, the shirt had been white. Now it was a colorful mix of grey, white, and brown. My arms had brush burns too, but I couldn't see or feel any other type of injury.

I shook my head to clear it, and stood, using the wall to help steady myself. Then I looked around, studying the medieval landscape I seemed to have landed in.

Now that I studied it closer, I realized it wasn't as ancient as I thought. For instance, right next to me stood a garbage can, and among the things lying around was a plastic water bottle. And now that I looked, the wall on my right had graffiti painted all over it.

So then where was I?

I walked out of the alley, onto a cobblestone street, where a carriage was… I guess parked at the side of the street. Two white horses were attached to it. They looked up at me as I exited the alley. One snorted, and then both turned back to nosing some blades of grass that had poked up through the stones beneath their feet.

Outside the alley, I wasn't as blocked from the wind, and a strong blast suddenly made me shiver. Some things blew down the nearly empty street. I noticed a newspaper among them, and stooped to pick it up.

I never really read one of these things before, since I got most of my information online, but I knew something was wrong as soon as I looked at it.

For one thing, there was no information. Yes, there were headlines like 'Hotel Plans Canceled', and 'Strange Weather Patterns Baffle Scientists' as so on. But there were no words to explain the headlines. It was just blank, as if someone had forgotten to add in the rest of the story.

The other thing I noticed that was strange was the date. It was Sunday, in July, but a year after when I'd been hit by the truck.

The newspaper fell from my numb hands as I stared into empty space. It was impossible. How could a year have passed? How could I have landed in this impossible landscape in the first place? Vaguely, I realized I was crying, but it hardly registered as my mind tried to wrap itself around the concept of this world I had fallen into.

I must have cried for hours, cold and numb. Bu finally, I just stopped. Oh, I was still trying to accept the fact of where I was, and when I was. I just could cry anymore, but I couldn't move either. I just sat, staring out into space. Not even really thinking. My body had pretty much just shut down, while still being awake. I zoned out everything around me, and sat cocooned in my little world of emptiness.

It took me awhile, but I finally roused myself and stood. The wind had disappeared, and so had the carriage. The only things left on the street were me, and all the things littering the ground around me. The whole place had an apocalypse feel to it.

After a moment's consideration, I decided to see if anyone lived in this creepy city. I walked up to the nearest house. I studied it for a minute, looking for a doorbell. None seemed to exist, so I just knocked.

No answer.

"Hello?" I called timidly, knocking again. No answer. I waited awhile, counting to one hundred under my breath. Still, when no one opened the door, I tried the knob. It turned.

I pushed the door open, entering the house. The walls and ceiling remained stone, but the floor was made of wood, covered in a fancy rug. Plush chairs and couches decorated the room I was in, and fancily carved redwood tables supported lamps that gave off a cheery glow. The room was dominated however, by a stone fireplace that took up about half of the back wall.

As I stepped into the house, I was hit by a sudden burst of warmth, despite the fact no fire burned in the fireplace. I also noted that, by themselves, the lamps could never light up the whole room as well as they appeared too, but no other light source was visible.

"Creepy, and creepier." I muttered to myself before raising my voice to call "Hello?" I crossed the room to an open doorway, and peered around the corner. "Anyone home?"

Apparently not in that room either, which turned out to be a dining room. A long wooden table took up most of the space in it. Chairs surrounded the whole thing, and a huge chandler huge right above the center of the table, made up of candles and glass.

I paused a moment to take in the display, before looking for the next room.

After looking through the kitchen, hall, bathroom, and storage closet, I came to stairs leading upward. I tentatively placed my foot on the first step, but aside from a slight creak, nothing else happened. I added more weight to it. Still, it didn't cave in. So I ascended the stairs.

Above, I found quite small. The first room I entered was another storage closet. The second…?

I entered the room, which quickly asserted itself as a bedroom, due to the pink carpet, drapes, sheets, and bed gauze. A vanity was laid against one wall, with a chair standing next to it. Pink wallpaper with some lavender flowers I didn't recognize covered the walls. But none of those were what captured my attention.

It was the woman that lay on the bed sheets, covered in blood.